May 19, 2008

Goat Cheese Stuffed Banana Peppers

8-10 fresh banana peppers

1 cup feta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

3 oz soft cream cheese (Chevre works well also)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoon olive oil

Gently run sharp knife lengthwise, from top of pepper to tip of pepper. Gently open pepper and clean out seeds and membrane (especially important if you are using hot banana peppers). You can cut stem off but I leave it on to have something to pick pepper up by. Rinse and set peppers aside after cleaning. In a small mixing bowl cream all cheeses and seasoning. Gently open each pepper and stuff mixture inside. Place in a greased baking dish. Drizzle olive oil or flavored oil over the top of all peppers in baking dish. Bake in preheated oven 350 degrees for 30 minutes.I have used my homegrown fresh banana peppers all varieties, sweet, mild and hot. Bit of advice if you have left overs when using the hot variety of banana peppers they will be extremely spicy the next time you serve them. And with all hot peppers when you are cleaning them you should wear gloves as not to burn your hands.I use feta and mozzarella that is made from our goats’ milk.